Forgive me?
by Lerysakon
Summary: One shot He was looking at her intensely. A lump formed in her throat. "Forgive me?" his husky voice broke the silence.


**This is just a short one-shot, but I hope you like it. This is actually based on a fan art I did. If you're interested in seeing it, the link is on my profile**. **And if you can, please tell me what you think about it.**

**Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't mine (if it was, Zutara would've been the ending)

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Katara walked down the extravagant hallway of the Fire Nation palace. She wanted to stop and observe the magnificence of the place but she focused on her purpose and walked on. Stopping in front of a particular room, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Before her stood Zuko who was in the process of putting on his shirt. She resisted the urge to gasp at the sight of the prince being illuminated by the setting sun.

Right after that battle with Azula, she had dragged Zuko in a random room to heal him completely and then left for a while to check if their other companions have arrived yet, but they haven't.

She cleared her throat to catch the firebender's attention: "How are you feeling?"

He nodded and smiled slightly: "I'm fine."

"Good..." she muttered before sitting down on a chair. "... It's finally over."

"Yeah." He hesitantly replied as if not believing the fact himself.

An awkward silence took over and both shifted uncomfortably. Minutes passed and Katara decided to break the stillness: "You shouldn't have done that you know."

"Shouldn't have done what?" he raised a brow at her.

"Block the lightning with your body..."

Zuko frowned and look out his window: "What was I supposed to do? Watch while you get electrocuted?"

"I would've done something to defend myself! I didn't need protection!" she replied; her voice rising in volume.

The prince groaned at the ungratefulness of this waterbender: "If you haven't noticed, **waterbender**, you control water and water conducts electricity. Whatever way you could've thought of will still end up with you being a corpse." He gritted.

"I know that, Mr. Obvious! I would've dodged!" Katara stood up and glared at Zuko.

Zuko turned around and directed an equally fierce look: "Look, peasant, stop being ungrateful and be thankful that you're alive."

"You do know that you could've died with that, right?" she yelled.

"But I didn't, did I?"

"That's because I was there to heal you!" Katara walked over to him and poked him in the chest, careful not to hit him anywhere near the scar on his torso.

"I didn't ask you to heal me!" Zuko replied angrily.

"If I didn't you would be the corpse right now!"

"You ungrateful little..." Zuko wasn't able to continue as his amber orbs met her sapphire ones. To his surprise, he didn't see any anger that he was so sure he should've seen. Instead, the emotions in her eyes were that of concern and fear.

Concern for what? Him? And fear? For him?

Then he made a guess to what this was all about. She was still shaken because of what happened before. This was her way of getting over what happened.

What Zuko can't seem to comprehend is the fact that Katara, the last person who accepted him, was concerned and afraid for him, the person she had loathed before.

Still being sceptical of his own hypothesis, Zuko decided to find out for himself.

Katara scowled even more when the young man in front of her started to smirk.

"Were you afraid that I would've died?" he asked slyly.

Katara's eyes widened and she stammered: "Wha-what? Me? Scared that you would've died? Speak for yourself!"

"So you **were** scared!" he teased.

"No I wasn't!" she retorted.

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't!"

"Stop lying."

"Who's lying?"

"Just admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That you were scared of me dying."

"I said I wasn't!"

"You're still lying."

"How would you know?"

"I can tell." Zuko smirked as Katara turned around glared at him.

"Fine! I was! I was scared that you would've died. I was scared that I might've lost another friend! I was scared because I have just accepted you and then you would've died because of me! I admit it!" she was panting when she finished her confession.

Katara's eyes widened when her mind registered her actions. She looked at Zuko and saw his smirk grow wider. She immediately avoided his gaze by looking somewhere else.

Though he didn't show it, the Fire Nation prince was actually surprised at the girl's outburst. It was the first time he ever witnessed anyone outside his family express so much concern for his wellbeing.

He also understood that the reason for her sudden anger (that caused their argument) was simply because of the emotions she was trying to hide since these feelings involved him and his near-death experience.

'_I scared her that much, huh?'_ he thought to himself.

Knowing that her stubbornness was equal (if not greater) to his, Zuko decided to take it upon himself to end their quarrel.

He took slow and cautious steps as he approached the waterbending master. Katara watched the prince's movements through her peripheral vision, curiosity keeping her rooted on the spot. Even when Zuko was already beside her she still resisted the urge to turn to him. Then to her surprise, the young man gently took a lock of her long hair and brought it to his lips.

Katara blushed at the slight intimacy of is action and looked him directly in the eye; sapphire and amber meeting yet again. He was looking at her intensely. A lump formed in her throat.

"Forgive me?" his husky voice broke the silence.

Katara's cheeks reddened even more and she turned away, crossed her arms and pouted.

"Hmph!"

Zuko simply chuckled at her reaction.

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**I tried to keep them in character as much as possible. I'm not sure if I was able to accomplish that. So what do you think? **


End file.
